Becker's Hospital Review

36 POPULATION HEALTH 36 CEO / STRATEGY Audit of New Mexico hospital finds mismanagement, unapproved payments to CEO By Morgan Haefner G allup, N.M.-based Rehoboth McKin- ley Christian Hospital has been im- properly managed and operated, ac- cording to a state audit report cited by the Los Alamos Daily Post. In the special audit report, state auditor Brian Colón found issues related to management contracts, improper reimbursements and vi- olations of internal policies at the hospital, among other issues. In one example cited by the report, the audit found a noncompetitive contract was awarded to Invictus Healthcare Management to oversee operations at the hospital, which was against its policies. At the time, Invictus' CEO also held the COO position at the hospital. e audit said Reho- both McKinley allowed Invictus to improper- ly overcharge it more than $750,000 for night shi staffing services that weren't received, as well as excess hours for physicians who weren't penalized for poor performance. e audit says the contract wasn't reviewed prop- erly by hospital leaders. In addition, the board of trustees didn't ap- prove compensation for its former CEO, Da- vid Conejo, according to the audit findings cited by the Los Alamos Daily Post. While Rehoboth McKinley is a smaller, 60-bed hos- pital, in 2018 Mr. Conejo received nearly as much compensation — $629,000 — as the CEO of the state's largest, 628-bed hospital, who made $676,000. Luis Robles, Mr. Conejo's defense attorney, refuted the findings in a Sept. 16 release shared with Becker's. Mr. Robles said the au- dit is "grossly inaccurate and misrepresents the true financial picture of David Conejo's tenure as CEO of Rehoboth McKinley." Mr. Robles said the audit wasn't carefully re- viewed, and Mr. Conejo's attorney did not get a chance to review the audit, nor did auditors request a meeting with the hospital execu- tives. Mr. Robles said Mr. Conejo's salary was presented incorrectly in the report and was actually closer to $400,000. Mr. Robles add- ed that the allegations about no-bid contracts are incorrect. e audit findings come aer the board of Rehoboth McKinley fired Mr. Conejo as CEO June 11, about a month aer a group of staff alleged mismanagement and approved a no-confidence vote. Mr. Conejo later sued the hospital, accusing his former employer of breaching a management contract with his own management company and purposefully promoting false and misleading information about the company. e state auditor sent its report to the Internal Revenue Service and other oversight agen- cies, according to the newspaper. n California hospital wants community input on CEO search By Kelly Gooch S onoma (Calif.) Valley Hospital is involving the community in its search for a new CEO, according to a newsletter signed by Jane Hirsch, chair of the Sonoma Valley Health Care District board of directors. According to the Sept. 8 newsletter, board member Joshua Rymer reported that the CEO search committee recommended executive search firm WittKieffer to find a replacement for Sonoma Valley Hospi- tal CEO Kelly Mather, and the board approved the recommendation. As part of this search, the search committee has set up a separate email, svhnewceo2020@gmail.com, for community members to comment, Mr. Rymer said. Emails will go directly to WittKieffer. Mr. Rymer said the search committee will also look for other ways and channels for community members to weigh in. "This is an important decision for the board and we want to hear from the community on what they would like to see in a new CEO," Mr. Rymer said. Ms. Mather will leave her position at Sonoma Valley Hospital at the end of the year to become full-time CEO of BayHealth, a joint venture between UCSF Health in San Francisco and Walnut Creek, Calif.-based John Muir Health. Ms. Mather has helmed Sonoma Valley Hospital for a decade. She joined BayHealth half-time on Sept. 1 and will join full-time on Jan. 1. n Duke Health partners with One Medical By Morgan Haefner D uke Health in Durham, N.C., part- nered with One Medical, a member- ship-based chain of primary care clinics, to expand primary care access in the greater Ra- leigh-Durham region. Under the partnership, Duke and One Medical plan to open primary care sites in the coming years. Duke will add One Medical to its prima- ry care network, and the organizations will have clinical and digital integration. "The partnership is built upon a shared commit- ment to transforming the healthcare experience for patients and will provide local patients with a new option for more accessible, technology-en- abled, and coordinated primary care," accord- ing to a news release. In January, One Medical partnered with Bos- ton-based Mass General Brigham to boost pri- mary care access under a similar arrangement. n

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